Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

and then I looked at Cassie, who had been standing off to the right the whole time.
    She was smiling.
    “Everything will be great now,” she said. “But he has no idea why.”

Family Planning
    S OMETIMES DURING THE weeks that followed, I wondered if I had really gotten the better of Lucille. Perhaps Cassie hadn’t given me the right advice, after all. Like a swimmer caught in a current, Lucille realized it was wiser to swim with it than against it. Only by swimming faster than the current could she maintain her precious control.
    Because I had implied that I might agree to a big wedding, she immediately began to plan it. Soon, there wasn’t a dinner at home that didn’t include some brochure, some new wedding idea, or some new design she had discovered for an altar. She agreed that it wasn’t necessary for our wedding to be as big as hers and Daddy’s, but there were at least five hundred people who should be invited.
    “Five hundred people is not outrageous,” she said before I could object.
    “No, it’s not,” Daddy agreed.
    I didn’t object, and that soon led to a listing and discussion of names, almost all of whom I had no knowledge of. They were, in Lucille’s terms, “the core of our business relationships.”
    Ethan had already given her his list of relatives and some friends from home he’d like to see invited. But that was only twenty names. I had no close girlfriends to ask to be my bridesmaids. Lucille’s solution was to suggest that I have some of the company’s most important young female employees.
    “They’ll all be honored, and it will enhance the wedding to have a half-dozen or so,” she said. Of course, Daddy agreed.
    Most of the time, I simply listened to the discussion without commenting. However, one night after dinner, I asked Ethan to do me a favor regarding our wedding.
    “Anything,” he said. “What?”
    “Ask my uncle Perry to be your best man.”
    “Really?” He held his smile. He wasn’t stupid. He knew what I was doing. I was showing Lucille just how wrong she had been to replace Uncle Perry with Senator Brice. “He’s not really my best friend. I was thinking of George Samuels from back home. George and I were very close in high school and never lost touch with each other. You’ll like George.”
    “Uncle Perry is my best friend,” I said. “In time, he’ll become yours as well, but if he’s mine now, he’s yours now, too.”
    He nodded, seeing how firmly I wanted this. “Okay. I’ll ask him.”
    “Thank you.”
    “We’ll have to settle on a date, then,” he warned.
    “That’s fine. You decide,” I said.
    I knew he would run right to Lucille and Daddy and determine the date with them. They concludedthat we could hold the wedding in about three months. Now that it was more than just a small family affair, Lucille announced that she and I would explore a few hotels. She determined which ones to consider. I couldn’t disagree, because she was more familiar with all of that than I could ever be. In fact, I told her to make the choice herself.
    “What? It’s your wedding,” she said, really taken by surprise. “You should be the one making the choice.”
    It’s my wedding, I thought, but you’ve taken it over.
    “I trust you to make the right decision,” I said.
    She smiled. “Well, I’m happy to see you have that much faith in me, Semantha.”
    “I certainly do when it comes to something like this,” I said, and she looked very pleased.
    It was really Cassie’s strategy. Ever since Lucille and I had had that little tiff at dinner and I had insisted that she not touch my wing of Heaven-stone, Lucille was more aloof, suspecting not only that I didn’t like her but that I would try to cause some break in her relationship with Daddy.
    “Are you absolutely sure you want me to handle this all by myself?” she asked.
    “I saw how well you planned your own wedding. I’m not the least bit worried.”
    “Well, would you like some help choosing your gown?”
    “Give her an inch, and she’ll take a foot,” Cassie whispered.
    “Of course I do,” I said.
    As far as Daddy and Ethan were concerned, when they heard about all of this, the thin wall of ice that had formed between Lucille and me rapidly melted.
    “Good. Let’s take some time and do that this weekend, then,” she said, lowering her voice as if someone could overhear us. “I have a secret. I’m not crazy about the wedding dresses at our stores. I haven’t gotten into